Major building company with $90m turnover shuts down website, locks up projects

Contractors for the major builder which has massive projects in three states are reportedly collecting their tools, while construction sites have been abandoned.

A prominent Australian building company spanning across three states is “teetering” on the edge of ruin, a top union member has warned.

PBS Building, a multimillion dollar firm which does a mix of commercial and residential projects, is in the spotlight after appearing to abandon projects.

On Monday, the site of a major project in Queensland appeared abandoned, reported The Gold Coast Bulletin, while over in Canberra, its sites were also found to be locked, according to The Canberra Times.

News.com.au understands the company also has sites along the NSW south coast and in Sydney.

The firm’s website no longer works and all its social media posts have been deleted.

When news.com.au called the builder during business hours on Monday, all calls went through to a voice message system.

PBS Building had not responded by time of publication.

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The defunct website of PBS Building.

PBS Building reportedly has just shy of 200 staff and multiple multimillion dollar projects in the works.

The builder, with its head office in Canberra but also offices across the eastern states, was contracted for a massive $53 million development known as the Melrose project in the suburb of Woden.

A spokesperson for the developer, Doma, confirmed to The Australian Financial Review that work had stopped on their site.

Meanwhile, over in Queensland’s Gold Coast, work has also ground to a halt at several sites.

A 19-storey development called Shoreline, in Surfers Paradise, and a townhouse project in Helensvale, have both been locked up.

The Gold Coast Bulletin said that some tradesmen were spotted removing equipment from the sites on Friday.

The Serenity Reserve townhouse project which was under construction by PBS Building has reportedly been abandoned.

ASIC documents obtained by news.com.au show that in October last year, when PBS Building lodged its latest annual report, it was treading a very fine line of staying profitable.

According to the filing, PBS Building had $27.5 million worth of assets as at the end of the last financial year.

Meanwhile, they had $23.8 million in liabilities.

The embattled firm has lost money two years in a row but the amount got considerably bigger in 2022.

Last financial year ending June 30, PBS racked up losses totalling $4.3 million.

The year before, it had a comprehensive loss of $558,000.

That said, PBS Building’s turnover increased by 18 per cent in the financial year just ended, with a revenue of $90.8 million.

“The Company will continue to pursue its strategic objectives to increase market share and profitability,” the report stated.

All social media posts have been removed.

News.com.au also obtained a report from private company CreditorWatch, which showed that it had defaulted on a $33,000 loan.

Lindsey Civil, an electricity supplier near the Sydney suburb of Campbelltown, lodged the record of the default in April last year, with the money due in March.

It’s understood PBS has since paid back the debt.

CreditorWatch classified PBS as “high” risk over the late payment.

It also said the firm deals with around 25 lines of trade.

The firm has an average of $173,000 in overdue payments, compared to the industry average of $16,000.

The highest credit it has owed to someone in the past five years was $839,000.

On average, PBS is taking an average of 34 days to pay debts, alarmingly well above the industry average of just six days.

The firm racked up millions of dollars of losses in the last financial year.

The building industry is in crisis as cost of living pressures bite.

Incoming Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union National Secretary Zach Smith had a sobering warning about the company, describing it as “teetering on the edge of ruin”.

“Too many subcontractors and workers simply don’t get paid when companies … collapse,” he told News Corp’s business network.

“It is unacceptable that people are not getting paid for their hard work. (It’s) one of the biggest problems in our industry.

“No more buck passing. No more talk. We need an effective national security of payments regime.

It comes as the entire building industry is in crisis because of supply chain disruptions, skilled labour shortages, skyrocketing costs of materials and logistics, locked-in price contracts and extreme weather events.

So far this year, around a dozen builders have collapsed.

Last month, three prominent building companies collapsed a day apart from each other, with NSW apartment developer EQ Constructions going bust owing up to $50 million, then Perth building company called Hamlen Homes going into administration with $1.4 million reportedly owed to creditors and the next day Melbourne-based residential builder Hallbury Homes going into voluntary administration.

Hallbury owed between $8 million and $12 million to hundreds of creditors, including 62 homeowners with projects at various stages of completion.

Earlier in February, award-winning residential construction company Delco Building Group in Victoria went under owing $780,000 to 50 creditors.

Brisbane based builder Pantha Homes also collapsed.

It also emerged in January that two more construction companies in Western Australia went under due to labour shortages and increasing construction costs.

Originally published as Major building company with $90m turnover shuts down website, locks up projects